This invention relates to improvements in a sports bicycle called a Freestyle or Freestyle BMX Bike. These bikes have a low profile with wheel diameters of twenty inches or less and are extremely rugged. They are used in a variety of competitions and exhibitions including sprinting, racing, and trick maneuvers such as climbing an inclined ramp at high speed and dropping to a track below, riding or balancing while tilted upright on the rear wheel, and riding or coasting while the rider is seated or standing on the handlebar crossbar, or on various steps, extensions, or platforms on the frame, beneath the saddle, on the chain stays, on the seat stays, and on the front fork.
These maneuvers involve a great deal of skill and concentration, and a superlative sense of balance and timing. One of the most spectatular of these maneuvers is illustrated in a fifteen-frame sequence on pages 62 and 63 of the June, 1986 issue of FREESTYLIN' Magazine. Mid-way through the sequence, as shown in frames numbered 9, 10, and 11, the bicycle is completely upside down supported momentarily on the pavement by the ends of the handlebars and the rear, upper edge of the saddle. This scuffs and abrades the rear edge of the conventional saddle and momentarily restricts movement of the bike.